Mumbai, June 1: The farmers in Madhya Pradesh called for a state-wide bandh, starting Friday. There were heavy police deployments across the state as the 10-day shutdown saw a mixed response from those protesting and those who weren’t part of it. Also, the beginning of the protests coincides with the anniversary of the unfortunate incident last year in June, in Mandsaur, where police firing resulted in six farmers being killed.

The protests were given different names such as ‘Gaon Bandh’, and ‘Kisan Avkash’ as the farmers have demanded better prices for their agricultural produce. The protests saw farmers in states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh join the nationwide agitation.

Madhya Pradesh seemed to be the most affected of the protests, amongst all the other states. The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government have stationed over 15,000 policemen in the violence-prone areas as a preventive measure.

Contrary to this, a group of farmers belonging to Bhopal had a completely different view of the ongoing situation. They said that it was just a normal day like any other for them and they hadn’t faced any problems so fat. The farmers said, “This feels like a normal day, we are not facing any problem. We don't want any type of agitation and we are not even a part of it. This is a conspiracy of the political parties.”

The President of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, Shiv Kumar, said, “More than 130 farmers organisations are with us. This has now become a nationwide agitation. We have decided to observe a Bharat Bandh on June 10 till 2 pm. I would like to request all the businessmen of cities to close their shops till 2 pm & pay tribute to farmers who have lost their lives in previous years.”

Earlier in the day, there were visuals from Ludhiana and Faridkot (in Punjab), and Sambhal (in Uttar Pradesh) that showed farmers hoarding essential supplies – vegetables, fruits, and milk. The visuals showed the farmers spilling milk and putting forth their demand for loan waiver and implementation of Swaminathan Commission's findings.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 01, 2018 04:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).